Amor has time to plan for future

ADELAIDE United coach Guillermo Amor has been under pressure for most of this season, but you would not know it.

His team has underperformed for most of this A-League campaign, losing nine of its 15 games before a much-needed 2-1 success over Melbourne City on Thursday night moved the Reds off the bottom of the ladder.

Amor's two-year contract comes to an end in June.

United's general manager of football, Ante Kovacevic, said talks had been put on hold at the request of the former Barcelona great.

Fans and pundits alike will know by the end of next month whether Amor will extend his stay but for the record I hope he does.

After taking the club to its first A-League title and second Premier's Plate last season, Amor deserves the right to dictate where and when discussions on his future take place.

"He (Amor) told us he can't make a decision right now,” Kovacevic said yesterday.

"We respect his wishes.”

That's a good response from the club because losing Amor would not be good.

The Spaniard has not lost his cool during this poor run, when you would not begrudge him at all getting upset when things were not going his way.

Every week opposing coaches say playing Adelaide will be tough and the way the Reds have been performing has not really matched their position on the ladder.

Sadly in this results-based business, winning games and getting points are all that matter and Amor's team has not been doing much of either.

Of course he has been feeling the heat but through it all he has shown grace and kept his cool when a lot of other coaches might have spat the dummy.

Amor has been linked with moves to Manchester City and Melbourne City next season but I think the Reds' hierarchy needs to do all it can to keep the Spaniard at the club.

He would be a very hard man to replace and I am sure with luck he can turn around Adelaide's fortunes.

A good campaign in the Asian Champions League would help and let's hope the Reds can get off to a good start in that competition next month.